WELCOME!
St. Conval's Catholic Church
linked with
St. James the Great
PLEASE NOTE:
We are not taking any hall bookings at this time.
For baptisms and other sacraments please see the priest at Sunday or Vigil Mass.
Parish Clergy
Fr. Martin Kane Deacon Michael O'Donnell Fr Binu (Syro-Malabar Rite)
Mass Times
Mon: 8.30am Mass at St. Conval’s.
Tue: 8.30am Mass at St. James the Great.
Wed: 8.30am Mass at St. Conval’s.
Fri: 8.30am Mass at St. James the Great.
Saturday Vigil Mass: 3pm St James
Saturday: 5.00pm Vigil Mass at St. Conval’s.
Sunday: 10.00am Mass at St. James the Great and then 11.30am Mass at St. Conval’s.
2pm Mass St Conval's (Syro-Malabar Rite)
Confession: after each Mass and on request.
Prayer
Father, almighty and eternal God, whose praise is sung throughout all creation and whose glory is proclaimed by all peoples. You create us in love and call us to our eternal destiny of loving communion with You. May the parish of St. Conval’s be a place where Your Name is hallowed and Your chosen ones are united in Holy Mass with Your Son in praise and thanksgiving.
Arrangements
BAPTISMS
Usually take place after the 11.30am Mass on Sunday.
Parents are requested to make arrangements with the Parish Clergy in good time.
MARRIAGES
Couples are requested to speak to the Parish Clergy at least six months
before a wedding and before any other arrangements are confirmed.
FUNERALS
Families are asked to contact the Parish Clergy before making
any arrangements with a Funeral Director.
Groups
Mon 7pm SSVP
First Saturday 10.00am Fatima Prayer group
Hall Activity
(Hall Not Available For Private Function Hire)
All Welcome
Monday Free Breakfast Club 9:30am-11:30am
Monday - Friday After School Care 3pm - 6pm
Tuesday AM Dance 6pm-8pm
Wednesday N.A. 7pm - 8:30pm
Friday Karate 5:45pm-6:45pm
AM Saturday Dance Class 10:30am-2:30pm
Social Events Throughout The Year
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
Mother Teresa
History
ST. CONVAL
ST. CONVAL'S PARISH HISTORY
St. Conval’s as a parish was born in 1949, the first Mass being celebrated on 30th July.
In its infancy the big problem was accommodating the numbers attending Mass. By 1952 five Sunday Masses had become seven for Fr Conway & the “new” Fr Louis Knight!
Records show that eyes were focused on the need for a permanent & bigger building than the £10,000 wooden structure, and active social life revenue supplemented the New Building Fund. Fr Bobby O’Kane replaced a sick Fr Louis Knight in April 1951, and Fr Pat Henry came in August. Fr Ned Molumby succeeded Fr Conway in October 1952, Fr Bill McDonald replacing Fr O’Kane!
Five years & six priests after its birth, April 1954 saw the site blessed & the first sod turned, the foundation stone was laid 29th September & the presbytery occupied 30th November 1954! The new St. Conval’s church was solemnly opened by Archbishop Donald Campbell 11 March 1956.
And so here we are, many years later, enjoying the fruits of the labour of these pioneers! Through their sweat & anxiety & enthusiasm & faith we reap the benefits to this day. Let the memory of these priests & parishioners never be forgotten within our beautiful church.
ST. CONVAL
A life to imitate
ST. CONVAL
St. Conval seems to have done so much work and so rapidly that no-one could keep up with him, far less put pen to paper regarding his life or mission. So the following is hardly “Facebook”! He had social “position”, with his Irish father ruling a “Kingdom”. Conval left this heritage behind and came to Scotland as a missionary, “up the watter”, landing around Inchinnan. In the tribal “bishoprics” of the time Conval’s leadership was in the area south of the River Clyde. Tribal rivalries had undone some of Ninian’s earlier great work. So Conval became a man with a mission! He became a priest, and eventually an “Archdeacon” (Dean / Canon?) under his mentor, Kentigern.
St. Kentigern’s tactic was to use Glasgow as HQ and spread the Gospel to the neighbouring regions. Conval had firstly to negotiate with local tribal chiefs & face fierce opposition from the Druids. The reward of his heroic zeal was the building of a church on the Druid mound at Rutherglen! His missionary itinerary took him along the south of the Clyde to Pollokshaws & Eastwood, where there is still a Catholic burial ground, although all trace of the original church has disappeared. Conval befriended & enlisted support for his mission from fellow Irishman, King Aidan of Dalriada. He founded a monastery in Inchinnan near his “landing rock” where he was buried, circa 600 AD. A place of pre-Reformation pilgrimage, it’s here that many miracles are attributed to St. Conval.
Sadly, the destruction that accompanied the Reformation means that records of Conval no longer exist. Archaeology rather than script is, therefore, our only hope of data retrieval on such a great saint. But memory housed in tradition cannot be erased as easily as paper files or even solid buildings. Conval’s journeying from the Shaws to Renfrew & Inchinnan must have been by way of Pollok. So it’s not too fanciful to picture him traversing the very hill on which his named church is built! Will this help us in prayer to identify with a real person, a real saint?